Self-made millionaire Gary Vaynerchuk: Do 1 of these 2 things to boost your career now

When Gary Vaynerchuk was in his 20s, his father owned a liquor store. Normally, his dad ran ads for wine around the holidays, when they had the most sales. Other companies did too.

But Vaynerchuk had a novel idea — he convinced his dad that August would be a smarter time to advertise, because fewer competitors were promoting their products off-season.

"Do you know what happened? We won. Because we were the only ones talking," writes self-made millionaire and VaynerMedia CEO Vaynerchuk on Medium. "Easy supply and demand of attention. Create value when no one else is."

It's a strategy that everyone can use at work, says Vaynerchuk in a recent blog post. But it's only half the equation.

With competitors and co-workers thinking less about work over the summer, their distraction can play to your advantage in two ways: You can either double down on your hustle or take the time to re-focus and really relax.

"I don't care if you want to rest or if you want to work," he writes. "I just want you to realize the opportunity and go all in."

Here are his two strategies for getting the most out of your August.

Work harder

"While everybody is at the pool, drinking rosé , this is when you put in the grinding hours," says Vaynerchuk in a YouTube video.

Vaynerchuk is a best-selling author and early investor in companies like Venmo and Uber, but he first builtsuccess through his company, WineLibrary.com.

During summer, "Everybody was on vacation," he says. "In Europe, all of my vendors, they were gone the whole month. Ghost. In the U.S. couple weeks here, couple weeks there."

Vaynerchuk would use the time to prepare for the following year and get ahead of the competition.

"I completely got in the zone, because I knew everybody was sleeping," he says.

"These 31 days in August [are] exactly when you triple down, when you 4X, 5X, down on your hustle," he says.

Take a break

"For all those people that are content, who've got bags under their eyes, hustled all year, crushing it, it's a very strategic month, to kind of go into that rest period," he says.

If you need a vacation, August is a smart time to do it, because everyone else is.

"It's a great time to go all in on family time because less people are hustling so you're losing less ground by taking time off," he writes.

In his post, Vaynerchuk explains that this August, he will be taking time away from the office to spend time with family and to re-think his brand.

Either strategy works, as long as you commit to it. You should either "check out, or completely all in."

Both bring "value in return to either side," he writes. "The problem is the 95 percent of people who continue to do what they always do every month."